The Stolen Pawn, Alec's Story
by WendyD
Summary: This is a one shot I wrote about Alec during a Volturi One Shot contest. It was very fun to write. I do not consider myself an "author", more of a Stalker Fan and Beta, but I have to give my thanks to my TwiKids for encouraging me to do it...


**The Stolen Pawn**

_Alec's Story_

Volturi One-Shot Competition 9/24/09

As I sat in the courtyard, staring at the old statues that surrounded the garden and the winding evergreen bushes that outlined the walls of the courtyard, I could not help but think about all the things that had happened in the past few months as I waited for my sister, Jane, and Master Aro to return. There was a chill in the air and a brisk breeze blew at my collar. I would have likely shivered had the temperature affected me at all. They were meeting with my Aunt Abby and Corin, and some of the other Volturi leaders and guard. Corin had just returned after being gone for over a month with Eleazar and Carmen. They were "investigating" a coven in Denali that lived a "vegetarian" lifestyle, only feeding on the blood of animals. I heard that Eleazar and Carmen had decided to stay with this coven or "family" as they called them, and continue living as "vegetarian" vampires. Jane and Master Aro laughed at this idea, but I was intrigued. They had wanted me to be there, in the meeting, but I had a bad feeling and decided to wait here until it was finished. I still struggled with my new "life" and having to live out my existence here, in Volterra with Master Aro; where I was being trained to be his "pawn"—a secret weapon of sorts, along with my sister, Jane.

I missed my human life still, even though the memories were fading fast. I hated how easily Jane had become accustomed to this lifestyle and the enjoyment she received when Master Aro used her to "hurt" people while perfecting her gift. _Gift—Y eah right, gift. More like curse!_ I could not imagine how powerful Jane and I would be had we been changed just 8 months later, after our 13th birthday, our day of "maturity", as my mother called it. I used to think how wonderful it would be for this day to come, anticipating how our lives would change. My mother made it seem like such a blessed thing rather than the curse it had now become. If my heart could have skipped a beat, it would have as I shuddered at the thought.

It becomes harder and harder to remember as I pondered my past life through to our new existence; what could have been, should have been.

It was 2 months ago when Jane's and my life changed forever. Not by our choice by any means, but changed nonetheless.

Our mother, Sarah, was a beautiful creature. She had straight brown hair and brown eyes that sparkled when she smiled. That was before the smiles faded; before father died and all our troubles started and our life as I knew it came to a painful end. She had a hard life towards the end, trying to raise two children by herself. I watched as the light slowly left her eyes and the pain and loss consumed them and aged her once beautiful, flawless face with lines of worry. Our father, Patrick, had only been gone a couple of months when hope came our way in the form of our Aunt Abby. She was sent by our grandparent's during our time of grief and need. She came to assist our dear mother but soon came to be a lifeline to both Jane and I as well.

It was obvious our Aunt Abby did not really want to be there, but she soon came to be such a joy in our household. She was a spunky girl, with an attitude to match! With flowing dirty blonde hair and piercing blue eyes that could bore a hole right through to your soul. I thought she was too beautiful to be real. I remembered thinking when I saw her that it was too bad she was our aunt. Even if she had been just our half-aunt…..

She immediately came to be our protector, even to the end…..

Jane and I came to depend on Aunt Abby much sooner than we had ever expected. We had always had such a hard time making friends. Jane was always "hurting" our schoolmates. Jane had this dark, almost evil, yet innocence, even as a young toddler. I remember her getting us both in trouble for her "shocking" the other children. Mother always seemed to smooth things over, but it was getting harder and harder as we got older and the "incidents" became more frequent with greater intensity. Jane had an underlying anger that surfaced every now and then. Other than that one character flaw, she was really a sweet girl with her straight, dark blonde hair, just a little lighter than our mother's and dark brooding eyes. There was always something lingering, hiding behind those eyes. She was somewhat a tomboy, but liked to dress up when she could. She was still a real pain sometimes, but I love her all the same.

***flashback***

_It was a balmy day; a day just before the season completed the change to Fall, and it still got warm in the afternoons. The sun was shining and there was a light breeze blowing outside in the schoolyard. You could smell the horses and hear the clink….clink…clink of the Blacksmith's tools hitting the metal and then the **sizzle **as it was dipped in the water to cool slightly before pounding out the shape of the horseshoe. I would sneak over during our lunch and playtime to watch Mr. Bartleby work. I would dream of working with him, as his apprentice, and one day learning to be a master blacksmith. It was dirty and hard, but a well-respected trade. A position that mother and father would be proud of. One that someday would support a wife and children. I loved the smell of the hay and the musty odor of the sweaty horses as they were brought in to be groomed and fed by the local businessmen as they passed through town, for various reasons, or to exchange their steeds for fresh ones to continue on their journey._

_Jane and I were about 12 at the time. We were small and looked young, but were actually very advanced for our age. Mother always "home-schooled" us in addition to our studies at the local school. If you could call it a local school. It was really the local parsonage, used as a school during the weekdays and for worship on Sunday. It always smelled of wax, from the burning candles, roses from Miss Tami's toilet water and a woodsy, musty smell from the old walls in the sanctuary. Miss Tami was a middle-aged spinster who appeared much older than she was with her black hair, piled in a bun under her hat, dark dull beady eyes and a permanent scowl on her face. She was the sister of the Reverend Parris. I chuckled to myself as I remembered Miss Tami. I always wondered how hard it must have been to be Reverend Parris' sister. Never allowed to leave the parish or marry as it was her "duty" to take care of her brother and his family after their mother died of consumption more than 10 years ago. Reverend Parris was a very demanding and arrogant man; stuck in the "old ways" and not willing to accept any change._

_Mother felt that we needed to have the social skills of interacting with other children, but also needed a greater understanding of our heritage; as we were "special", she would say. She made sure we were always well versed in every area; especially medicinal aspects, using herbs, plants and minerals. I remember, even as a young child, going with her; gathering flowers, herbs, roots and different small animals and insects. I would peek through the cracks in the cellar door and watch her make things; putting them into jars and "chanting", but she never let us watch or be a part of it. She said that we had to come into our "maturity" before she could really teach us and it deemed safe for us to advance in our studies. She had only recently started training us how certain herbs had medicinal use and had begun her preparations to begin our training in other "aspects and uses" of herbs and minerals. But alas, we never got that far into the studies because this day was the beginning of the end for our "human" family. This day would prove to be the end of mortality for Mother. We would follow in her footsteps soon enough. We each would leave mortality behind us, Aunt Abby, my sister dearest and myself. Only Jane and I would awaken to a new beginning, It came complete with new lessons to learn and new powers to explore and new school masters to please._

_I remember that I was still daydreaming about the horses; enjoying the smells lingering in the air—molten steel and fresh hay. Jane was playing in the schoolyard with a couple of our classmates when I heard a girl scream. I ran over and heard Betty crying "Please make her stop! She is hurting me!"_

_I saw Jane, laughing her wicked little laugh while she stared at Betty writhing on the ground in pain. Melina and Leydi stood transfixed in obvious horror. Everything seemed to moving in slow motion, like a dream and in my peripheral vision, I saw Lynn and Leydi as they ran up the trail; at the same time, they yelled back over their shoulders that Jane would pay for what she had done to Betty Parris, the Reverend's daughter. They cackled as they yelled that God would smite Jane dead for what she had done. They ran to the parsonage to get Miss Tami, their school teacher, Betty's aunt._

_I immediately yelled, "Jane, stop! " As I did this, I focused hard on Betty, who was still jerking and lying on the ground, and she immediately stopped screaming. Now, she just lay there, peaceful and calm. Not moving, not saying anything . Her eyes glossed over as she continued to stare into space. I knew that she could not move or say anything, but I never really understood how or why I had the ability to make that happen._

_Mother had always told Jane and I that this "ability" was part of what made us "special". A "gift" that was a part of our heritage that would come to full fruition when we hit "maturity". A word she always used when talking about us in future tense. I remembered questioning her one time, asking when this "maturity" would happen and she just raised her hand, waving me away and said that we were close. It usually happened when we reached puberty, around age 13. She would be able to teach us more once that time had passed. She said that we would fully understand then._

_As I turned my thoughts from Betty to Jane, I saw a flash in Jane's eyes, sheer terror. That was when I noticed Miss Tami, Reverend Parris and a mob of townspeople, all running towards us. I quickly darted to Jane, grabbed her hand and took off running away from town; towards home, towards Mother and Aunt Abby._

_As we ran through the rest of town; towards home where we would be safe, past the local pub, I noticed Corin. The gentleman that Aunt Abby, Jane and I met at the General Store a few days earlier. He just stared at us as we ran by. He then turned toward the mob and shook his head. _

***flash forward***

As I looked over at Jane, lying on the ground, broken and bruised……It was like Déjà vu.

I remembered thinking….everything had gone as well as could be expected. We had been allowed to go back to school a few weeks after Mother had been imurdered/i. I should have known it would not last; it was just too good to be true.

Again, I heard a scream and _again_, it was Betty, lying on the ground writhing in pain; Jane standing over her. Those schoolgirls had provoked Jane, until she just snapped. Why were children so cruel? Did they not understand that my poor sister, after the unjust murder of our Mother, was fragile. She had taken all she could; with the pain of our Mother's murder still fresh, remembering the chants of the crowd that day—"witch, witch, witch….burn her"……. came crashing back….the pain……the rage…..she did the only thing she could….took it out on Betty, her tormenter, once again.

I remembered……. as we had just watched our mother's near-drowning, as a test to her "witchcraft". By her survival, she had failed the "Trial by Water" and was declared a iwitchi. She was then condemned to be burned at the stake as witch. I remembered the horror as I watched her burn. The sound of the crackling timber at our Mother's feet, the stench of her burned flesh; the deafening sound of the townspeople as they cheered and cackled, as they chanted—"witch…..witch….witch….burn… you spawn of satan!" In a haze of tears and fury, I remembered seeing Corin, the lovely stranger and his friend, Eleazar, as they whispered in Aunt Abby's ear and appeared to comfort her. The pain on Aunt Abby's face as she attempted to ease the passing of our Mother. The fear and horror on Mother's tear stained face. When Mother caught me looking at her, she tried to be brave, but the pain was too much, her façade cracked and the screams bellowed from deep within my mothers throat, from the very depths of her soul. It had been too much to comprehend as a young boy; how such ignorance could rule an era and allow the senseless murder of misunderstood, yet innocent people.

Thinking back……I remembered that Corin and Eleazar had been by and talked to Aunt Abby several times after mother was murdered. She would never let us stay or listen to what they spoke of. She always sent us outside to play when they were around. She was always so upset and in tears when Corin and Eleazar left. I would hear her whispering to herself; thinking we could not hear She did not know what to do. She would pace her room and cry out, " God, what is the right choice?" She mumbled to herself…..how would we make it without any help. The pain and uncertainness written all over her tear-stained face was almost too much to bear.

Suddenly, I came to, violently shook out of my dreams, my memories, by the voices. I turned and saw Reverend Parris and his daughter, talking to several townspeople and laughing. I remembered , once again, being chased by all of them. History was repeating itself. Jane and I tried to escape, but they were too fast and they cornered us. I watched as Reverend Parris and Betty, so smug, so righteous, as they watched us as we were repeatedly kicked and beaten by the mob of people that had caught up to us—a mob they helped to incite, encouraged even. I would never forget the look in their eyes, almost joy, as the darkness began to consume me. I focused all my energy as I looked at Jane, then Aunt Abby, and finally back to Jane one last time. I tried to make all of the pain go away, but I could no longer concentrate. The pain became too unbearable. The last thought in my mind, before the blackness overtook me was that someday, they would pay for what they had done to my Mother and now to my family, to us. My blood, my sister's blood, my mother's blood would cry out from the grave in vengeance to them. They would be sorry, they would pay!

As I took my one last look over at Jane, I heard my Aunt Abby yell…."Eleazar!"….and slipped into unconsciousness. I welcomed it, longed for it, begged for it.

My next memory was waking up on a ship. I could hear Aunt Abby and Corin talking. They discussed something concerning our future. It was hard to concentrate as the pain was still so intense. I looked over at Jane; she was lying on her side, slightly propped up on her right elbow; staring at me almost in a daze. My heart skipped a beat as I saw the bruises already forming on her sweet face, the part of her left eye that should have been white was streaked with red and dark purple; her right eye almost swollen shut. Her green dress, once perfectly pressed, was torn and her left shoulder was exposed, bleeding and bruised. She winced as she tried to come closer to me. Aunt Abby turned from Corin and ran to our side.

I heard Jane tell Aunt Abby that she did not feel too good and laid back down. She cried. I concentrated as hard as I could to make Jane's pain go away, but it took too much out of me and the next thing I remembered was feeling excruciating pain and……..burning…….

It felt like I was burning—**'Oh God, No! They found us. They are burning us alive!!**' I tried so hard to open my eyes, to remember what was happening. I needed to help my sister, my aunt. The pain was too much. I thought I could hear Jane screaming too! Screaming to make the burning stop! Why did this have to happen?

I would never be able to forgive the people who had done this to me and my family. I only hoped that Abby had found an escape. Maybe this Corin would be able to at least save Aunt Abby. He seemed to care for her. I remember he always smiled when he saw her.

***back to present time***

As I sit here, remembering, as I waited for Jane; the pain of the memories were still so powerful. Still so new and fresh. Master Aro told me that the pain of the memory would fade and become easier with time. Time, something that we did not really even measure anymore. Time, something I had plenty of with my new existence. I looked forward to that day. The day when I did not have to hear and see my mother as she burned alive. Or remember Reverend Parris and Betty, laughing, taunting as they nearly beat Jane and I to death. At least I had some peace and solace in knowing that they truly did get theirs. That Corin and Eleazar slaughtered them all for what they had done to us and our dear sweet mother. Eleazar made sure to let Reverend Parris watch as he drank Betty dry before he ripped out his pious throat. He wanted them to feel pain, so he did not let Corin have these two. He did not want Corin's paralyzing venom to relieve them of their misery. He wanted them to suffer for all of the innocent people they had murdered; burned at the stake as witches.

A smile crept over my face as I looked up to see Jane, as she walked hand in hand with Master Aro. She smiled, and then a look of sadness, something I had not seen since our change, washed over her face, ever so briefly.

"What is it Jane, what is wrong?" I asked.

Jane looked at me, and reached for my hand, gently squeezed it as she said, "I am sorry, dear brother, but Aunt Abby is dead. She knew too much and had no use to us in our vampire world, so Master Aro had her killed. "

"No!" I screamed. "Why did you not tell me what the meeting was for and let me be there! I could have made it easier for her! Why could she not just stay here with us, she would not have told anyone! She loved us!— "How could Corin let this happen? I thought he cared about Aunt Abby, maybe even loved her!"

I wanted to cry, but no tears came to comfort me. I could not help but think about poor, dear Aunt Abby and the pain—as they killed her, drank from her! I shuddered at the thought. My dead heart ached; knowing my solace, my last hope of staying grounded, keeping some aspect of my true self, died with Aunt Abby. I knew that is what Master Aro would have done, as I have seen him do it so many times before. He _**never**_ allowed it to be quick; he enjoyed watching them become "food" in the end, as he only really thought of humans as cattle anyway! No matter whom they were. They were just here for us to use for food and pleasure, nothing more, nothing less.

Master Aro came over to the other side and took my hand and stated without any emotion at all, "Do not worry young one, Corin eased her pain." "She did not "feel" a thing," he said as an evil grin covered his pale face. I knew what he meant….she did not "feel" a thing, but she was completely aware of what was happening to the very end. She allowed this to happen, just to protect us, as she always did, to the very end. She did not fight; she did not risk making Master Aro angry with us.

With that, Jane and Master Aro started to lead me out of the courtyard for it was time for our next lesson, and my grieving, ever so brief, was at an end. This outward expression and behavior was not tp be tolerated from Master Aro's prized possessions. Jane and I would one day be his very best; the leaders of the Volturi Guard, his secret weapons used to take down anyone who would dare go against him and his ways!

I always wondered though, what our life might have been like had we been allowed to take "the road less travelled", rather than the one chosen for us as his pawn in this empire commanded by this heartless, vile man that I would one day look up to as a "father", as well as my master.

THANK YOU! To everyone who read through this and their awesome "improvements", especially Lynn, THE Volturi Queen, and Tami, my fellow super friend! Thanks for all the support and encouragement from my TTS family! Love yall dearly! *hugs*


End file.
